User talk:Aleal
Main page Now that it's had some time to settle, what do you think about taking the "Muppets" stuff off the main page? I don't really dig it. I think we could write some better intro text for that space, if we wanted. -- Danny (talk) 20:58, 9 August 2008 (UTC) :I agree, and outside of one user who adjusted the length, I don't think anyone's really noticing it either. Go ahead and take it out. Not much of it is worth keeping anyway, but we can always add in any stuff relevant to the Disney merger later on and so on. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 21:01, 9 August 2008 (UTC) ::Okay, cool... I figured nobody cared but us. -- Danny (talk) 21:10, 9 August 2008 (UTC) My favourite licenced merchandise Do you know if Muppet Babies aired in the UK during its original US run? I seem to have found a listing for a UK pressing of the Rocket to the Stars LP. The seller says it's on BBC Records and it's dated 1985, and the catalog number would seem to fit, but the show's page says it was on in the UK from 2005 to 2007. Was it on earlier? I figured you'd know. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 04:39, 5 August 2008 (UTC) :Hi! I don't have any specifics, but the sentence on the article (which probably needs to be fixed) is only there because many episodes from the UK Playhouse Disney run are currently in circulation online. It definitely wasn't the first airing, just the only one tape traders paid any attention to. More when/if/as I find it (I recently found the Hebrew Muppet Babies intro on YouTube!) -- 20:56, 6 August 2008 (UTC) ::Mazel tov! -- Ken (talk) 04:54, 7 August 2008 (UTC) Muppet main page stuff I'm glad you're taking a stab at editing that Muppet text... I tried, but kind of gave up halfway through when I realized how odd it was. Do we even need it at all? It just reads like dorky fan-obsessive minutia. -- Danny (talk) 07:28, 31 July 2008 (UTC) :It is pretty dorky and obsessive (and looking at it, not especially accurate or coherent earlier) but it seems like we should park it *somewhere* (since general consensus earlier seemed to be in favor of moving rather than omitting). That's another talk page/current events question, but I wouldn't mind dumping it (or integrating any actually useful parts into the Jim Henson Company or other relevant pages; the last section really deals with the consequences of the Disney sale). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 07:30, 31 July 2008 (UTC) ::I think the general consensus may have been made without any of us actually reading the text. I think I just liked the pictures. -- Danny (talk) 07:32, 31 July 2008 (UTC) :::Yeah. I'd read the text, and never liked it (one reason I disliked the many links to it). Need to deal with some other (non-Wiki) stuff in a moment (potentially remunerative, even!) but when I get a chance, I can see what bits if any are worth moving into other articles. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 07:34, 31 July 2008 (UTC) Bizet, by Georges! Hi! It looks like we have a few bits and parodies from Carmen, so can I make a page for Georges Bizet? -- Ken (talk) 04:39, 31 July 2008 (UTC) :We've mostly stopped creating pages for composers with no direct connection/reference, but it's really up to you. It's all only from Carmen, so a page for that would be better (I have a page from Grover's Overtures to scan later, showing Placido Flamingo and others preparing to perform Carmen). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 05:00, 31 July 2008 (UTC) ::Oh, okay. I wasn't sure how detailed you wanted to get, since long composer biographies are more for Wikipedia anyway, so I'll try to throw something together for Carmen. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 05:02, 31 July 2008 (UTC) Just for fun It looks like Ernie and Bert were on The Flip Wilson Show by themselves, apart from the other episode. I'd love to see that one! -- Ken (talk) 03:47, 24 July 2008 (UTC) I know it's late, but... have some cookies! -- Ken (talk) 07:00, 19 July 2008 (UTC) :Cute! Thanks! I'm dealing with some other stuff, so I've mostly just been doing quick check-ins the last two days. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 07:07, 19 July 2008 (UTC) ::Okay. Things are calming down here, so I'll talk to you soon! -- Ken (talk) 01:59, 20 July 2008 (UTC) Link by Link Quick question for you kiddo. Whats our stance on external links within an article? I give you Peter Secher Schmidt as an example of whether external links within the article should be there. -- Nate (talk) 17:03, 15 July 2008 (UTC) :Yeah, that's left over from Henrik's early contributions, when he external linked a lot of stuff. Feel free to take those out, but link to Hanna-Barbera for Scooby-Doo. The exception for external links is if its a word or phrase that's useful to link to and not common knowledge, like linking Justo Martínez to Porfirio Diaz (especially since that's the image I used to illustrate the article), and cases like that (even then, links aren't always used, just when they're really helpful, fun, or the article needs that extra something). I usually don't bother to link them, but a link for a foreign-language film or TV show can sometimes be appropriate, but that doesn't apply here. The general rule of thumb, laid down by Danny awhile back, is that less is more, and links should be saved for when context or further information helps understanding or appreciation. Count von Count is a good example, but the Bela Lugosi link can probably be fixed or turned into an actual article (that's something else on my to do list). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 18:34, 15 July 2008 (UTC) ::I figured so. And aren't to do lists for the birds? They never seem to end. lol! -- ''Nate (talk) 18:39, 15 July 2008 (UTC) Hi! I didn't know about not quoting the Grammy categories. I'll catch those as I'm doing other stuff. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 03:50, 10 July 2008 (UTC) :Yeah, that's a quirk of Nick's edits, but shouldn't be there, since there's no logical reason to put an award category in quotes (and no other text uses it when discussing, say, the Academy Awards and so on). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 04:55, 10 July 2008 (UTC) ::Hey, since I've got you, here's another one. How would you refer to something in a magazine? In referring to how LP's did on the Billboard charts, I always thought it was shown as ''Billboard's "Top LP's" chart, since a magazine is in italics, so to refer to one of the charts in the magazine, it would be in quotes, kind of like how we italicize a show title, but quote an episode title. Anyway, I was doing it that way, and MuzikJunky kept taking them off, so I just gave up, and now he hasn't been around, so I thought I'd ask you how to do it. Was my example the correct way to do it? -- Ken (talk) 05:03, 10 July 2008 (UTC) :::That's different. It's not an actual article or story (which are always in quotes) and things like the New York Times Best Seller list are always referred to as just that. Again, there's no real reason to put in quotes, certainly no grammatical rule. It would be different if it was, say, a column with a title like "Funky Tina's Top Rockin' LP Picks" or anything like that, as opposed to an ordinary list or chart. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 05:13, 10 July 2008 (UTC) ::::Oh, okay, I never really knew that. Thank you, your Masterfulness! -- Ken (talk) 05:18, 10 July 2008 (UTC) Hide & Seek Hey, here's another cool international thing... I was looking at the book Hide & Seek, Near & Far in the bookstore yesterday, and I saw that there's some cameos from international co-productions hidden in the scenes... -- Danny (talk) 05:05, 7 July 2008 (UTC) :Yeah, I'd seen that at Barnes & Noble myself. Very nice indeed! -- Andrew Leal (talk) 05:22, 7 July 2008 (UTC) Spacing issues Hi -- I'm sorry the spacing thing is still going on. I forget if I told you this, but it turns out it's not a Wikia thing, or even a wiki thing -- it's a problem with the way that IE interprets headers. Christian was able to reproduce the problem on a separate stripped-down web page just using headers, pictures and text. He's been working on how we can fix it... I'll ask him about it again on Monday. -- Danny (talk) 19:08, 6 July 2008 (UTC) :Yeah, I know. Thanks for telling me it's still being worked on, though I'm not especially optimtsic. But Scott had previously objected to moving images all to the top because of the edit links issue. With that gone, I'm just moving them back up as much as possible (and as noted, the ad situation makes it worse on every page with a pre-existing problem, and creates them where there was none). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 19:12, 6 July 2008 (UTC) Poster Hello! I found this image and thought you might like to see it. I have no idea what to do with it... :) -- Danny (talk) 00:12, 6 July 2008 (UTC) :Oh my. Lovely. Thanks! Actually, I found a lobby card from Spain, and other stuff. I'll look around, but I think for those where we have no dubbing information (or even including those where we do), we can make an International Muppet Movie posters gallery. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 04:45, 6 July 2008 (UTC) ::I hope this means we'll find a Thai soundtrack album one of these days! -- Ken (talk) 05:06, 6 July 2008 (UTC) :::The international posters gallery sounds fantastic. It would be cool to have one of those for each movie! -- Danny (talk) 19:08, 6 July 2008 (UTC) TV Mention Hi! When does a minor TV mention become a regular TV mention? I just saw an episode of Taxi where Alex picks up 2 nuns, and they're fighting over whether to see The Muppet Movie or The Sound of Music. One of them says, "I can't stand that little frog!" So I wanted to see what you thought. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 21:52, 5 July 2008 (UTC) :Hi! It's the only Taxi mention we have, and it's verbal. So it's minor. The shows only get their own page if a) it was also spoofed or referenced in a Muppet/Henson production, b) it was a major visual parody or used substantial clips of Muppets, or c) they did it often on a very regular basis (see Family Guy or Buffy the Vampire Slayer). So add a Taxi section to Minor TV Mentions. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 04:48, 6 July 2008 (UTC) ::Okay. I know a few cast members have pages, so I'll work that in too. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 04:52, 6 July 2008 (UTC) Goodbye to Bozo I'm sure you've already heard that Larry Harmon just died, but I thought of you. -- Ken (talk) 05:40, 4 July 2008 (UTC) :It's always nice to be thought of! Actually, I'm not sure how I feel. He wasn't the original Bozo, just the corporate owner and the voice in the cartoons, and Harry and I have often marveled at Harmon's less than harmonious tendencies, from the direct to video Laurel and Hardy movie (since he owns their likenesses too, or did, as far as authorizing new stuff) to inserting pointless CG interruptions over the old Boston Bozo shows on DVD. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 07:09, 4 July 2008 (UTC) ::Yeah, I read a few sites to unravel the whole Bozo story, and I was surprised to learn that Pinto Colvig and his son were involved too! By the way, having "Bozo Approved" on a bunch of the old Disney records always looks weird to me, since Bozo wasn't even a Disney character! -- Ken (talk) 07:59, 4 July 2008 (UTC) :::That only appears on the Capitol Records, since that's where Bozo originated (Pinto was the original Bozo on the records), not on Disney's own label, and the same appears on albums with Bugs Bunny, some Woody Woodpecker, etc. Why certain Capitol albums failed to meet with Bozo's approval has yet to be fully discerned. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 09:15, 4 July 2008 (UTC) ::::Yeah, I know, I was just kidding around. I pulled out my reference guide, and every picture has the seal. And that always struck me as funny, as if Walt had to get Bozo's approval for records of his own movies! -- Ken (talk) 10:32, 4 July 2008 (UTC) Lauren Bacall Thanks for the cite on Lauren Bacall! -- Danny (talk) 17:35, 2 July 2008 (UTC) :De nada. It's in a bunch of books, including Lesser's I *think*, thus why I hadn't cited it originally. I know for sure that Morrow's, though, and others, include an anecdote about her, as the opposite of the James Earl Jones factor. Her distinctive way of speaking was a distraction, so the kids paid more attention to how she spoke than what she actually said. Next time I'm able to plumb Lesser and Morrow and the others, I'll try to find it. I'm personally hoping that clip surfaces one of these days (both because it's unusual, and because I love Bacall). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 20:22, 2 July 2008 (UTC) Just the facts, ma'am. Hey, thanks for reworking the Dragnet credit on Tom Hanks's page. It didn't read right to me, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it. We piano players need our English majors! -- Ken (talk) 06:04, 1 July 2008 (UTC) Ad changes Hi Andrew! I wrote about the possible new changes to the ad format on Current events. When you get a chance, please feel free to post on the Central forum page. There's some internal concern about whether turning off ads for logged-in users is the right thing to do. It would be great to have your opinion on that page. -- Danny (talk) 05:31, 1 July 2008 (UTC) :Ho. I can see now why you were both excited but also hush hush about this. I left a brief opinion (especially speaking to the idea that the current system discourages contributing editors). We'll see how it goes and if it would work on a long-term or even short term basis (I made sure to point out that the banner ads don't cause that problem). Thanks so much for pushing for this even as something to be considered, though! -- Andrew Leal (talk) 03:45, 2 July 2008 (UTC) ::Yeah, that's great -- thanks for posting there! I've got good hopes for making the change, maybe next week, as long as things keep going well. You're right, the banner isn't as much of a problem... but part of the issue is getting people to encourage their readers to log in, rather than encourage them to use Adblock (which some sites are currently doing). You can sell people on the value of logging in, if it means no ads. You can't really sell the idea of "ads in a more consistent location". So, we keep moving ahead....... -- Danny (talk) 05:00, 2 July 2008 (UTC) :::Oh, no, I know what you're saying. I made the point to say that I wouldn't mind much if the change still meant banner ads on pages that had them (since I'm sure that wouldn't hurt the economic forecast any). And I definitely agree that encouraging logins is better than adblocking, especially if they ultimately achieve much the same goal. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 05:47, 2 July 2008 (UTC) Caroll Spinney interview Hi! I noticed that Kermit Love's death made the front page of Yahoo for a little while today and I noticed that in the corner of the article, there was a video clip about Caroll Spinney. I don't know if we can use anything from it, or if we can link to it (I'm not sure how long Yahoo/AP clips stay active), but I thought it was a really neat interview, with some great shots of the street set with the lights and cameras and everything. So I just wanted to point that out to you. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 02:44, 26 June 2008 (UTC) Thanks! Thanks! Can you also do 3924h? Webkinz Mania 22:13, 25 June 2008 (UTC) There's no place like home Hi! Check your e-mail. -- Ken (talk) 02:55, 25 June 2008 (UTC) Andrew's talk archive *Muppet Wiki Talk Archives